Reinvent Yourself

Latest Episodes:

#114: Linda Mauro (From fashion showroom manager to college COO) Oct 16, 2020

Show notes

Linda Mauro went from FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) to showroom sales, fashion forecasting, a buying office, and eventually running a New York showroom for west coast designers. “I was Carrie Bradshaw [of Sex in the City],” she says about the crazy, fashion-infused hard-charging lifestyle. “I paid my dues.” When she got fired, she regrouped her life outside of the city and applied to Berkeley College which had an opening in admissions and recruiting. “They listed the same skills that I was using in the showroom: sales, managing a budget, goals,” she says. "I was able to bring those skills into higher education.” Today, Mauro is the COO of Berkeley College of New Jersey and she’s been there 20 years. She says: “Lots of the students are career changers like me."

#113: Beth Bengtson (When you find out you're the best person for the top job) Oct 09, 2020

Show notes

“Your career is a journey. It’s rare to find a person for whom it’s a direct line,” says social entrepreneur, CEO and Founder of Working for Women (https://www.workingforwomen.org/), Beth Bengtson. Indeed, Bengtson studied to be a photographer at the Fashion Institute of Technology and jumped into the early dot-com universe and even lived through the bust. After meeting her husband and starting a family, she “realized that business could be a force for social good” and took a position as VP of Social Responsibility—teaching that corporation “how to think about doing good and being a good citizen.” Laid off during the Great Recession, she decided to pursue the idea of social responsibility by creating W4W, a service that helps for-profit business invest resources in social initiatives that benefit women. Her leadership awakening happened when she was scouring the world for the perfect W4W CEO because “my definition of a leader is everything I wasn’t: charismatic, outgoing, with sales and business development,” she says. A coach to challenge her to lead. And the rest, as they say, is her-story.

#112: Rob Moore (Reinventing himself in order to help others reinvent) Oct 02, 2020

Show notes

I didn’t know who Rob Moore was before his Public Relations person approached me. But what a wonderful discovery! His podcast, "The Disruptive Entrepreneur", has over 5 million subscribers, he has written dozens of business books, and coaches and mentors thousands of entrepreneurs. But what I love about him most is his awareness of his personal drivers: “I’m always trying to prove to my dad that I’m a worthy son and to the world that I have value.” He also describes himself as a “constant learner” (sound familiar?). Moore, who studied to be an architect, grew up working in his father’s bars and pubs, eventually getting himself into five-figure debt. When his beloved father had a nervous breakdown, Moore says it “changed my life.” He felt he “was a victim, was bitter, jealous and defensive.” But he figured out how to dig himself out of it all through entrepreneurship. At 41, he’s on his 5th “retirement” which he describes, as “not about doing nothing — but doing something new.” And he has a lot to teach women like us who are wondering if entrepreneurship is for us — or how to stay at it without burning out.

#111: Alexis Mersel (When not having a plan is the best plan) Sep 25, 2020

Show notes

Alexis Mersel of Instant Pot cookbook fame ("Everyday Instant Pot"; "Healthy Instant Pot"; "Instant Pot Soups") grew up “fueled for fashion.” After studying in Paris, she landed dream jobs at Elle, Harper's Bazaar, In Style and Mirabella. When the digital boom hit, she abandoned print and jumped in, working for fashionmall.com and later Martha Stewart and the Food Network. Moving between San Francisco and London allowed her to connect with a London roommate who ran a bookstore with a cafe which lured Alexis into cooking. Still lacking “family responsibilities,” she quit her job to attend a cooking school in Ireland eventually landing back in San Francisco as a baker. Baking moved her into food styling, which moved her into cookbooks. “Even though I’m a classic type A, I wasn’t thinking of a plan,” she says. “The best thing in retrospect was NOT to have a plan. It let things be.” Her advice for other type As who want to play it free-spirit: “If your gut says yes, say yes. It’s scary. But that’s where you build confidence for your next role."

#110: Cyndie Burkhardt (From corporate burnout to living her around-the-world dream) Sep 18, 2020

Show notes

Cyndie Burkhardt was living the corporate dream: handling $100,000 marketing campaigns, meeting incredible people, and traveling the world. But she was also working 60 hours a week, experiencing night sweats, black outs, and brain fog so bad that she couldn’t read the newspaper. Self care, she says, “wasn’t on my radar.” One day after leaving work exhausted, she got into bed, and couldn’t get out. “I was paralyzed; I couldn’t move.” With no doctor able to diagnose her, she sought help from alternative practitioners and a nutritionist who called it adrenal fatigue. After recovering, Burkhardt entered nutrition school (“to help others...so they won’t get sick!”), pursued her interest in writing and photography (www.photo-diaries.com), and became a health coach. Last year she wanted to study alternative medicines around the world. She sold all her possessions and booked a trip for 12 months in 12 places but was forced to end her trip at the 3/4 mark when the pandemic pinned her down in Split, Croatia. “A pandemic stopped me dead in my tracks and it’s wonderful,” she says, noting that she walks to the beach every morning at dawn for a swim before settling down for work. " I’m going to listen for the answer [about what’s next] and figure things out.”

#109: Kelley Biskupiak and Susan Rietano Davey (Using their reinvention to help others reinvent) Sep 11, 2020

Show notes

“I was pregnant with my third kid when I opted out,” says Kelley Biskupiak, co-founder of PrepareToLaunchU.com, a one-stop source for instruction, inspiration and community for women navigating a maternity leave, mid-career pivot, or childcare break. “I didn’t realize when I made the choice what a sense of loss it was going to be. I could go all in on momhood...but it was not so fulfilling. I had to ask: who are you and where do you want to go?” She joined forces with Susan Rietano, a mother of four with experience in tech and placement and launched the site. “Women approach the next [job] opportunity with too much gratitude and apology,” says Rietano. “[We] want them to thank you for being at the opposite side of the table.”

Enrollment in Prepare to Launch U's Fall Career Relaunch Course is open until September 21st. Here is the link to a recording of a recent info session Susan and Kelley hosted to overview the program and answer prospective students' questions:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/WocwR3_OOulW0Xtehk9NfntE32Ja1y_D7GYckMUT4pKyxXid0-B1ZD2AO6zdgWwH._BNR24RrUlwBlHgn?startTime=1599666775000

If you are interested in securing for a spot in their 10-week program (9/28-12/4), you can apply here: https://bit.ly/Fall2020CohortApplication Resources: 8 Question Next chapter Questionnaire: http://bit.ly/NextChapterFreebie Explore and Access Your Next Career Path Freebie: http://bit.ly/EXPLOREANDASSESSFREEBIE

#108: Anita Devlin (OCD + Film know-how = Her own organizational show) Sep 04, 2020

Show notes

“I’ve been OCD my whole life,” says Anita Devlin. “I realized that was why people liked having me come stay with them—because I reorganized their homes.” Devlin who has been a casting director, co-produced films, and sold luxury real estate put all her experience together and created We Heave Ho (https://weheaveho.com/), a company that will do anything you need help with—from organizing your closet to cleaning out your barn or helping young adults decorate their first apartment. But even better: she makes comedic reality-show-style films about the process—starring you (and her!) of course! “I love working with people my age and helping them downsize,” she says. “The dynamics between the husband and wife…you’re the therapist, too.” The videos, she says, “get the conversations going.” She says: “It’s very rewarding to help people and when you walk away they feel orderly and clean.”

#107: Melanie Curtis (From professional skydiver to life coach) Aug 28, 2020

Show notes

“Fun and excellence are not mutually exclusive,” says Melanie Curtis, who grew up with a pilot father and sky diving hanger and “drop zone" in her back yard but did not take her first jump out of an airplane until she was 18. “I believe love and hilarity are the two most important things in life. When doing deep work, we can hold space for each other and bring lightness and humor into the work as well.” Curtis, who competed professionally, believes that people can use physical bravery as a “stepping stone into emotional bravery” or it can be an avoidance tactic. She also believes teammates and learning helps us transverse “fear and feeling paralyzed.” Find out more about her at www.TrustTheJourney.today or mel@melaniecurtis.com

#106: Kathi Sharpe-Ross (A self-starter shares her secrets) Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

Kathi Sharpe-Ross, CEO and President of The Sharpe Alliance, decided that it wasn’t enough to help every top brand from Coca Cola and Mall of America to Walt Disney World create giant and inventive events, she wanted to teach others how to succeed, too. Born in Australia, but living all over the world before settling in Hollywood’s 90210 (yes, she went to Beverly Hills High!), Sharpe-Ross knew she always wanted to work for herself and opened her agency right out of school. Thirty-four years later, she’s written a book (Re:invent Your Life, https://amzn.to/3fUhjxt), to share inspiration and concrete tools for what she calls her “continuous reinvention.”

#105: Barbara Waxman (Reinventing the definition of midlife as “Middlescence") Aug 14, 2020

Show notes

For years I’ve been saying that midlife is the same as adolescence—but in reverse. Your body is doing strange things, you can’t stop crying, you notice all your relationships are changing, you no longer know who you are or what you want, and you don’t know why. Life-stage expert, gerontologist and author, Barbara Waxman, decided to make that observation official with her book “The Middlescence Manifesto: Igniting the Passion of Midlife” [https://amzn.to/3fOeZbb]. “In 1900 life expectancy was 47,” she tells me. “Now, it’s in your 80s. The [extra] years are not at the end of life, the decrepit years, but are showing up in the middle markers. It starts at 45.” Waxman says, “women gain power in Middlescence…[have] more agency. They want to do what [they] care about and care less about what others think.” Waxman believes now is the “time to discern what you care about…so you can show up with a powerful ‘yes!’”

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